SACRAMENTO — Those of us who follow elections know that “politics ain’t beanbag.” That was the saying from the fictional Mr. Dooley, an Irish-accented character created by newspaper columnist Finley Peter Dunne in the late 19th century. In other words, politics is a rough-and-tumble process. Those who play that game better be tougher than those who play children’s games.

But even such tough pastimes need to have some ground rules. Candidates and activists who behave disreputably — or cheat at the game — ought to have their bad behavior exposed. We can always hope that voters, in their collective wisdom, will punish those politicians who put their raw pursuit of power over standards of common decency.

Voters in north Orange County, and parts of nearby Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties, may soon have a chance to express their feelings at the way the California Democratic Party and its allies are defending Sen. Josh Newman of Fullerton from a burgeoning recall election. Their latest tactics really have crossed the line, however.

Newman is a freshman Democrat who won a seat last November in a district that still is heavily Republican. He vowed to be a voice of independence — but joined the majority in backing a controversial bill that raises gasoline and diesel fuel taxes, and boosts the vehicle-license fee. It passed by one vote, so Newman’s vote was indeed a deciding vote for something that will cost many California families hundreds of dollars a year.

That’s politics. Newman gave Democrats a supermajority, which makes it easy for them to ram through unpopular tax increases. So California Republicans, led by former San Diego Councilman Carl DeMaio, have targeted Newman in a recall. They want to bounce him from office as a punishment for his vote and pressure legislators into possibly rolling back these increases. That’s politics, too.

Thanks to the state’s progressive history, California has a freewheeling form of direct democracy that allows “the people” to qualify initiatives for the ballot, repeal new laws through the referendum and recall politicians. Newman’s backers think it’s unfair to hold a recall because of a vote. But the state constitution allows voters to recall politicians for any reason.

The proper response is to fight back against the effort with a political campaign. Yet despite their control of the state’s political system, the state’s Democrats have embraced ugly strategies that might make even the cynical Mr. Dooley roll his eyes in disgust.

Newman forces sent out a hit mailer warning voters not to sign the recall petition. That part is fine, but the mailer, which ironically decries the “divisiveness” of the recall, made DeMaio its target in a despicable way. It alleges that DeMaio’s “political career ended when he was accused of sexually harassing numerous members of his staff and masturbating in front of a campaign aide.”

DeMaio has denied these allegations. And as the Register’s Martin Wisckol wrote, the accusation was made by a former aide during DeMaio’s 2014 congressional race. “The district attorney investigated and found insufficient evidence to file charges against DeMaio,” he wrote. “The case also attracted the attention of the FBI, which turned its attention to the accuser, Todd Bosnich. … Bosnich was found guilty of obstruction of justice for fabricating anonymous threatening emails that had appeared to come from DeMaio.”

A federal prosecutor told the Los Angeles Times that “Bosnich’s criminal act had the very real possibility of improperly tipping the scale toward a particular candidate.” These facts have been widely reported. A judge found DeMaio (and the democratic process) to have been the “victim.” Newman told Wisckol he is “not pleased to be part of this kind of politics” but claimed he’s only “playing a game by their rules.” What kind of moral reasoning is that?

I don’t see recall backers playing by those kind of indefensible rules. They are making a policy argument about a gas tax. DeMaio is openly gay. So are some Democratic legislators. I can imagine the accusations of “McCarthyism” and “homophobia” had the roles been reversed.

Furthermore, Democrats have rammed through legislation (as last-minute trailer bills) designed to change the recall rules midstream by delaying the process and allowing petition signers to withdraw their signatures. They want to extend the process with a series of new deadlines — and enable the governor to schedule the election far into the future, after the passion for the recall has subsided. This seems a lot like cheating.

“The reason they act this way is they know they can. They’re bullies,” DeMaio told me. He has vowed a legal fight against this bill, which he believes to be unconstitutional because it essentially eliminates the ability to recall Assembly members — and would be applied to an election retroactively. The Newman recall started in May, after all.

Both of these efforts to save Newman are beyond the pale. Politics may not be a game of beanbag, but it shouldn’t be a blood sport, either.

Steven Greenhut is a Sacramento-based journalist. He was a Register editorial writer from 1998-2009. Write to him at stevengreenhut@gmail.com.

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